With over 40 years of experience on the sideline, Liberty Christian Head Coach Butch Clark has learned it takes more than confidence to win a state championship.

His team learned that lesson in its 64-61 overtime loss to Overland Christian Saturday in the Missouri Christian Schools Athletic Association state championship game in Joplin.

It was the second straight overtime loss for the Eagles in the state title game.

“They kept telling me they had enough heart to win it all,” Clark said. “And I told them you can have all the heart in the world, but you still have to execute.”

The Eagles battled back from an early six-point deficit to lead by nine with three minutes left in the game.

Overland Christian began pressing and the Eagles began crumbling.

Clark said because his team hadn’t faced much full-court pressure this season, they weren’t entirely prepared Saturday.

The Eagles worked on their press-break last week in practice, but Clark pointed out the difference between practicing against your backups and playing against a state title contender.

“We just didn’t respond well late,” he said.

Liberty Christian committed four straight turnovers and Overland Christian tied the game with 20 seconds left to force overtime.

The Eagles then missed a pair of early layups in the extra period.

“That changed the way the rest of the game was played,” Clark said. “Instead of being down one and playing defense, we started fouling.”

Junior guard Jake Pietzman, who led the team with 25 points and nine rebounds, fouled out before the final offensive possession.

Clark called a timeout with six seconds left and drew up a play to get senior guard Brendan Dickson or freshman guard Andrew Voss a look at a 3-pointer.

Dickson’s attempt fell off the front of the rim.

“I liked our chances if we didn’t turn it over because we were so good from the free-throw line,” Clark said.

The Eagles were 20-23 from the charity stripe but committed 17 turnovers in the loss.

Junior forward Kameron Bagby finished with 13 points.

Dickson and fellow senior Kaleb Bagby combined to score nine.

Pietzman and Dickson were named to the all-tournament first team and Voss was a second-team selection.

“I thought Kaleb and Brendan played about as well as they could play their final three games,” Clark said. “Kaleb did a great job on the boards and played great defense against kids that were much bigger than him, and Brendan was outstanding on defense for us all tournament long. Both kids are outstanding leaders and great Christian men, and I’m honored to have coached them.”

Clark, who announced his retirement last month, also participated in his final game at Liberty Christian.

“I felt worse for the players, especially our seniors, because I’ve already won state titles,” he said. “That was their last rodeo.”

The Eagles finished with a 24-8 record and earned a share of the Metro Athletic Conference championship.

“When the season started, they said they wanted to win 20 games, win a conference title and compete for a state title, and we did those things,” Clark said. “So you can’t be upset with this season.”